Sophie Devine lit up the Mumbai skies with a brilliant 36-ball 99 as Royal Challengers Bangalore made short work of a target of 189 to seal an eight-wicket win over Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League in Mumbai on Saturday. Sixes rained down from Devine’s wide willow as RCB crossed the target with 27 balls to spare and kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a second successive win. Devine, who has represented New Zealand in hockey before making his cricket debut, as a bowler often bats at number 11, played an innings that has gone down as one of the best in the history of the T20 format. Will go
During his stay in the middle, Devine hit eight sixes and nine fours.
Earlier, South Africa’s star batswoman Laura Wolvaardt scored a brilliant 68 off 42 balls, followed by a 22 in the final over to bundle out Gujarat Giants for 188 for four.
Ashleigh Gardner (41 off 26 balls) also played a flamboyant knock before Harleen Deol (12 not out) and Dayalan Hemlata (16 not out) smashed Megan Schutt for two sixes and two fours to end Jiji’s innings.
Chasing a stiff target, RCB got off to a flying start with the opening pair of skipper Smriti Mandhana (37) and Sophie Devine taking the GG bowlers on board with their breathtaking batting.
While there were innumerable sixes and fours, the highlight was Devine’s maximum against left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar, who smoked 94 meters over midwicket for the biggest six of the tournament.
Devine hit a four and two more sixes to take RCB to 125 for no loss in the ninth over.
It was an over when New Zealander Devine smashed Harleen Deol for an 86-metre six to bring up his half-century off 20 balls.
100 runs had been completed in the eighth over and what looked like an impressive total at the start of RCB’s innings now looked within reach.
While Mandhana, who dealt harshly with Kanwar in the first over hitting a six and two fours in her 18-run knock, was dismissed for 31 off 37 balls, there was no stopping Devine as she smashed Ashwini Kumari for a six and a six. One four
In the end, it was Kim Garth who brought an end to Devine’s knock, but by then, she was well on her way to an RCB win.
Earlier, electing to bat first after Sneh Rana won the toss, both Sophia Dunkley and Laura Wolvaardt showed positive intent early on, hitting two fours each in the first two overs.
However, after a ball pulled Sophie Devine over midwicket for a four, Dunkley’s leg stump was knocked down as the batsman shuffled too much to play a scoop shot to a good length delivery at fine leg.
Unfazed by the setback, Wolvaardt tried to control the innings and hit the fence twice more to take GG to 40 for one in five overs.
After joining the attack, Ellyse Perry got off to a decent start and conceded just one run from her first five balls before she hit a boundary off a half-volley at the Brabourne Stadium. Well done Perry, though.
Leg-spinner Asha Shobhana also bowled cleanly in the first over, conceding only five runs like Perry.
After spending some time in the middle, Sabbhineni Meghna broke all shackles in the eighth over with a four off Preeti Bose’s first ball. However, Bose made a good comeback and gave away four runs in the next five balls.
Bose broke the 63-run partnership between Meghna and Wolvaardt when the bowler had the Indian batsman stumped by Richa Ghosh with what looked like a lazy dismissal.
Ashleigh Gardner walked in and meant straight business, hitting Asha over long-on for a six, even as Wolvaardt, at the other end, continued to accumulate runs and brought up her half-century off 35 balls. reached the mark with a six over midwicket against Perry.
Wolvaardt then hit Megan Schutt for a six and a four, but Shreyanka Patil ended her innings when the South African hit a full toss straight to Bose over short midwicket.
Gardner then took it upon himself to end GG’s innings on a high note, hitting a flurry of fours before dismissing Patil lbw.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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